Illinois Patriots 13U Black take 3 of 4 in tourney
Despite falling in the semifinals of the DBA Youth April Showdown, Illinois Patriots 13U Black found plenty of positives in its opening tournament performance.
The Patriots fell 9-5 to Storm White Baseball on Sunday in what was a back-and-forth game until the Storm's four-run rally in the fifth inning. IP came back from an early 2-0 deficit thanks to an Isaiah Ortiz first-inning double to deep left that drove in Josh Wilder and Andrew Rossini.
Tyler Przespolewski led off the second inning with a single and eventually scored on a Storm throwing error to give the Patriots a 3-2 lead. However, the Storm tallied seven runs in the next three innings to keep IP playing catch up.
A balk plated the Patriots fourth run and Carter Blanchard's line single to left drove in Rohin Patel to close out IP's scoring.
"We battled all weekend. We did a lot of good things considering we've not had a lot of games or outside practice time," Patriots Coach Mike Giovenco said.
The Patriots (4-1, 1-0 WSBL) reeled off three wins to reach the semifinals. Earlier Sunday, they knocked off the Grant Bulldogs 9-2 after a seven-run rally in the fourth inning that saw 11 Patriots bat. A run-scoring single by Carter Blanchard, a two-run double by Wilder and an RBI double by Rossini helped put the game out of reach.
On the mound, Micah Giovenco picked up the win against Grant after giving up only one run in four innings. Giovenco escaped trouble with the help of Dixon Wagner, who cut down a Grant runner at the plate in the first.
In the fifth, Carter Blanchard inherited a bases-loaded, no-out jam, but worked out of it by inducing a pop up and striking out two Bulldogs looking.
In pool play, IP survived a pair of tight contests beginning with a 5-2 win over Glendale Heights on Friday night thanks to a clutch two-out single by Przespolewski that plated Rossini to break up a tie game in the bottom of the sixth.
Colin Blanchard later extended the lead with a two-run single of his own that drove in Przespolewski and Jacob Gama, who reached on a walk. Rohin Patel collected the win after pitching a scoreless inning of relief.
Patel also earned the win in relief on Saturday as the Patriots downed Northwest Travelers Grey in come-from-behind fashion. Northwest jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first, but IP stormed back in the second with a four-run burst. Przespolewski (six hits in four tournament games) pulled a double to right that scored Giovenco. Facing a full count, Colin Blanchard hit a fly ball to left which was misplayed into two more runs to give the Patriots a 4-3 lead. Przespolewski extended the lead to 5-3 with an RBI triple in the fourth and then came on to pitch the final two innings to record the save.
The Patriots, affiliated with Dream Big Athletics, resume WSBL action on Tuesday in a makeup game against FCA Impact Maroon before traveling to Wisconsin this weekend for the Sandlots of Salem "Sandlots Swingfest" tournament.